Episode 92: Yoga for Healthy Aging with Baxter Bell

Did you know that the fastest growing demographic of new yogis is the 55 and older set? Neither did I. I learned all sorts of fascinating facts, statistics, and new research from this week’s guest, Baxter Bell.

Together with his co-author, Nina Zolotow, Baxter has a new book, Yoga for Healthy Aging and that’s the main focus of this episode. I can’t think of two people better-positioned to write this book: Baxter spent years practicing medicine as a family doc before becoming a yoga therapist and practicing acupuncturist. Nina is the author of several books on yoga and is a certified yoga teacher, having studied extensively with esteemed teachers like Rodney Yee and Donald Moyer.

I don’t know about you, but Jason and I have tried— unsuccessfully!—to get our parents to do yoga. This book reminds me of how beneficial yoga practice is as we age. I think it’s a vital and meaningful book for any thoughtful yoga teacher’s toolkit.

In this week’s podcast we learn more about:

* The story behind Baxter and Nina’s new book Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Wellness * Why “health span” might be a better goal than a longer life span. * How holding yoga poses can assist with bone strength. * His perspective on “resting” the heart in addition to exercising it. * How spending time barefoot can assist with balance and proprioception as we age. * The importance of flexibility, agility, strength, and balance as we age—and how they overlap and influence each other. * The best thing we can do to improve cognitive function over time. (It’s not crossword puzzles)

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Andrea Ferretti and Jason Crandell are a husband and wife team who have been teaching, writing about, and living their yoga for nearly two decades. Andrea is creative director for Jason Crandell Yoga Method. Jason is an internationally recognized vinyasa yoga teacher. They live together in San Francisco with their full-time boss, Sofia-Rose Crandell, age 5. To find out where you can train with Jason live, check out the Schedule page.